SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES DIVISION
The Southwest Region's Sustainable Fisheries Division
administers fishery management, grant, trade and industry services programs from the
Regional Office in Long Beach, California. Our goal is to manage the recreational and
commercial fisheries of our region to provide a sustainable harvest that provides the
greatest overall benefit to the nation. We work with the Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to develop
policies and regulations for fishing in the ocean between three and two hundred miles from
the shore of California. We provide grants to states to help them be full partners in the
fishery management programs. We advise the Department of
State (DOS) in negotiating international and high seas fisheries agreements, and we
help DOS to negotiate more favorable trade agreements for U.S. fishery product exports by
providing DOS up-to-date information on the trends in international seafood trade and
identifying barriers to U.S. products. We manage observer
programs for monitoring and interaction/mortality of
protected species in the California set net and driftnet
fisheries. We also issue permits
for High Seas and
Pacific Highly Migratory Species fishing.
As part of our fishery management program, we collect data
on fishery operations, seafood markets, and fisheries trade. We
publish the information we collect annually in FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. We administer grant programs that enhance State fishery agency
programs (Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act and Anadromous
Fisheries Conservation Act Grants) and that support
industry innovation and research (Saltonstall-Kennedy grants). We also assist states in developing and implementing data
collection and management systems. |
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